


Spooktacles: The Missing Scenes

by ExtremeEvil95



Series: Spooktacles with Clary Fray & Simon Lewis [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Attempts Of Humour, Background Clary/Isabelle - Freeform, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Compliant with Spooktacles, Every Chapter Is A New Event, I have no idea whatsoever on how filming and editing works, Implied Clary/Maureen, Implied Jace/Kaelie, Implied one night stand, Jace Is A Hipster, Jace Wayland is a Lightwood, Jace/Kaelie is implied and only in one chapter, Lesbian Clary Fray, Loosely based on Ghost Adventures/Buzzfeed Unsolved, Mentions of alcohol, Multi, Pansexual Simon Lewis, Swearing, The Youtuber/Ghost Hunting AU no asked for, background alec/magnus, so take everything I write with a grain of salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-04
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-01-09 00:03:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12264798
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExtremeEvil95/pseuds/ExtremeEvil95
Summary: (I recommend that you read at least the first part of chapter 1 of Spooktacles before reading these scenes)This is a collection of some scenes of events that happened during the year between Jace's first meeting with the paranormal investigators and when Izzy, Magnus and Alec come to join them for a investigation.Will feature some bad puns, pining, ghosts and some additional heartbreak on the side.





	1. Jace's First Paranormal Investigation

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I posted this first scene on my tumblr yesterday, and I thought it'd be better to keep them all collected here in a separate story instead. It turned out a bit longer than planned, it felt really long to post a 5k piece of writing on my blog sooo yeah, this felt a lot better.
> 
> I have at least four more scenes planned out to write, all while I figure out where I want the official story to head. I have outlines for the final chapter, but there's still some ground to cover. Nonetheless, I'll probably update this more frequently with shorter scenes whenever I got the time so!! More of the Spooktacles-verse will come.
> 
> As of right now, I have a oneshot I want to focus on, but after that?? Main focus on Spooktacles!!
> 
> All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Follow [my tumblr](http://gustavtomasbruce.tumblr.com/) for regular updates on all of my stories!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this scene! xx

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> I posted this first scene on my tumblr yesterday, and I thought it'd be better to keep them all collected here in a separate story instead. It turned out a bit longer than planned, it felt really long to post a 5k piece of writing on my blog sooo yeah, this felt a lot better.
> 
> I have at least four more scenes planned out to write, all while I figure out where I want the official story to head. I have outlines for the final chapter, but there's still some ground to cover. Nonetheless, I'll probably update this more frequently with shorter scenes whenever I got the time so!! More of the Spooktacles-verse will come.
> 
> As of right now, I have a oneshot I want to focus on, but after that?? Main focus on Spooktacles!!
> 
> All mistakes are mine.
> 
> Follow [my tumblr](http://distant-solar-systems.tumblr.com/) for regular updates on all of my stories!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this scene! xx

#1.

 

As promised, Jace heads to the supposedly haunted house to meet up with the two investigators the following Saturday. He’s full to the brim with a fresh dose of caffeine and skepticism that somewhat nurses the killer headache he’s got going on; life, as always, is peaches and everything nice in the world.

  Deciding to get absolutely shitfaced and watch _Hachi: A Dog’s Tale_  for some Friday night entertainment is not one of the greatest ideas Jace have had in his life: clearly, Jace hates himself.

  The ghosts better be quiet or they would face his built up wrath, that’s one thing for sure.

  From afar, the house looks like any other house. It’s old, sure, but that doesn’t magically make it host ghost parties every night. There’s even some kind of garden around it, Jace notices while peaking through the gaps in the fence.

  All in all, it’s not like he imagined.

  Along the road is a big, yellow van parked. The parking spaces in New York aren’t designed for this type of vehicle, so a part of Jace is impressed by how the driver got it to fit between the drawn lines. The other part of him finds a New Yorker owning a car bigger than a Mini-Cooper out of their goddamn mind. Besides, who even owns a  _yellow_ car? Except for the majority of the owners of the cabs in this town, that is.

  Yellow is happiness formed into a colour.

  Every part of Jace’s pessimistic persona loathes when things gets too happy; too yellow. At least when he’s not part of the happiness. Maia used to wear this yellow top all of the time; whenever she sat down or leaned forward, the straps would slide off her shoulders and it would drive Jace mad. Her nails would always be a shade to match, clear as the sun -

  Jace is not going to cry over a stupid, yellow van when he lives in New York: the literal home of all the world’s yellow cabs; he’s in full control of his feelings, damn it -

  ”Jace!”

  A familiar figure stands by the van: locks of fiery hair hanging freely under the brim of a NYU cap; a bright smile glowing at him.  _Of course_. Of course the ugly van have something to do with his new ghost hunting partners.

  ”Glad you could make it,” Clary beams. Before Jace even gets a word out, she’s pulling him in for a hug that almost crushes what little remained of his coffee in the process.

  Looking around the area, Jace confirms that Simon’s nowhere in sight. At least Clary’s nice and happy to see him: something tells him that Simon won’t be as easily impressed. ”I have to say that it was a bit of Russian Roulette to get out of bed this morning, so rejoice that I’m here and in one piece. Why on Earth are we here when it’s not even 10AM? On a Satur -”

  ”What, too early for your hangover?” Clary says, and from the way she speaks it almost feels like she’s judging him.

  As his smile grows stiff, Jace instantly wonders if it shows on him what he got up to the night before; is it that easy to spot someone trying to get over a break-up with watching loads of emotional movies ? All while holding onto a bottle of red wine like it would provide with love and support? Truly, he checks off all of the boxes in the freshly dumped criteria.

  Clary tilts her head to the side, eyeing him curiously while she grins. ”Dude, I’m joking. We were out a bit too late last night so make some room in that boat of self-pity and I’ll jump right in. Thing is with the paranormal that it doesn’t care if you’re feeling shit or not: ghosts are major pricks.”

  Reading people? Suddenly, Jace’s not sure he has any of that ability left. He lets out a breathy ”yeah,” and feels the tiniest bit better about his tragic Friday night. That Simon and Clary probably both where out with friends and not coped up watching  _Hachi: A Dog’s Tale_  and drinking too much wine is not something Jace wants to think about. ”So, take me through the day: step by step. What are we gonna do?”

  Saying those words unleashes something within the young woman: she practically radiates off energy (hungover? yeah, and Jace pissed starlight then)  when she pulls Jace with her to the back of the vehicle. ”So we’re going to do some interviews, take a tour around the building, show you all of our stuff: it sounds easy enough, but it usually takes hours to get everything done. You’ll get to film the intro first, just so we can decide if you’re what we’re looking for or not. How does that sound to you?”

  Ghosts seems to take a lot more work than Jace expected. He did check out one of the team’s videos the other day (just to get some meat on his bones) and he found it entertaining to say the least; he likes to keep himself busy, and if ghosts turns out to be real, then that’s a bonus to the side that could be equally as good as it’s bad.

  ”Sounds cool, think I can handle the pressure,” Jace nods. ”I haven’t made amateur movies with my siblings for nothing.” He doesn’t mention the artsy movies he’s made with Maia: that’s how they met, after all; sitting beside each other in one of those really pretentious classes with a guy wearing a turtleneck acting like he’s the next Woody Allen; insufferable attitude towards women and the dodgy behaviour to match.

   Maia fell in love with filming, while Jace fell for her.

  ”Really? Great!” Clary snaps him back with that energetic voice of hers. ”So, this is Simon’s van. He’s currently off getting us a permit so we don’t have to pay loads while we’re in there filming. Believe me, after the sixth parking ticket life gets pretty shit.”

  ”Isn’t kind of.. I don’t know,  _not_ practical to drive around in one of these?” Jace has to squint when he looks at the van; both the sun and the aggravating colour makes it tough for his tired eyes.

  Clary briefly leans against the backdoors, twirling a lock of her hair between paint-stained fingers (this time stains of pink and blue colour her skin). ”Tell me about it. Simon’s the real champ here: we need to take out equipment with us, and I don’t have a license so he’s the one who needs to drive us all over the state. He’s the backbone of  _Spooktacles_ , which makes this our version of the _Mystery Van_.”

  She opens the doors, revealing a bunch of boxes in various shapes and sizes stacked upon each other. Some of them are tiny, while others are bigger and more familiar: Jace sees a leg of a stand to a camera stick up through the crack of one of the boxes on the top, so he can only guess that the camera he would use is in here somewhere as well.

  All over the floor are guitar picks scattered, along with a loose strap that normally would be attached to a instrument. Beside all of the ghost hunting equipment, the musical equipment seem alien and out of place.

  ”I take it that you two play songs to summon the ghosts? Giving the undead a bit of a good ol’ serenade?” Jace gestures toward the guitar picks, dry smile in place that causes the redhead to roll her eyes. She could give Alec a run for his money, that Jace is sure of.

  ”Simon’s in a band,” Clay says, ignoring how amused Jace is by his own joke. ”As of late, we do rig up for a gig and play the _Ghostbusters_ ’ theme whenever we go in for a hunt so the ghosts knows what they’re in for.”

  She tells Jace this in such a matter-of-factly way that Jace’s not sure if she’s joking or not. His rational mind tells him it’s a joke, it probably is because otherwise they’re.. certainly a different type of people than Jace’s used to hang with, but his smile still falters.

  Clary bursts out cackling; she looks at him like Jace’s the funniest thing she’d ever seen. ”First of, that was another joke; second of all, don’t take anything Simon and I say seriously, because there’s a 100% chance we’re not.”

  Jace pinches the bridge of his nose. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to describe how he feels about his lack of ability to read people. ”I blame my lack of coping or understanding of humor on my severe hangover.”

  “Good call,” Clary pats his shoulder in way that’s very “been there, done that.” She shuts the doors, eyes squinted due to the bright sunlight. “I forgot my sunglasses at home. Never knew that I one day would have to fight the need to shove my head down into a box this badly.”

  Snorting, Jace taps his own sunglasses for good measure because he’s that type of guy. “Always come prepared or suffer the consequences. I’d probably be blind without mine at this point.”

  Both of them startle when a loud sound comes from somewhere by the building. Sharing a quick look, they turn to see what could’ve made such a sound and then Simon’s walking along the pathway, gaze firmly glued to a stack of papers in his hands.

  Surprise shines in the other ghost hunter’s eyes over seeing Jace stand with Clary by the van. How quickly it changes into the tiniest of scolds is remarkable.

  Jace’s happy that he brings so much joy to everyone around him.

  “Getting a parking permit here is outrageous,” Simon says in a form of greeting. “Had to fight two ghosts and do a rap battle with the owner to just get a glimpse of the damn paper.” He place the papers in the front of the vehicle; Clary disappearing after him with a questioning “but you fixed it, right?” and completely ignoring the ridiculous parts of Simon’s statement.

  Jace remains by the back, not able to shake the feeling that even though Simon just cracked a joke in his presence, the other boy seems not be overly fond of having Jace around. Not like Jace can blame the guy, they had spoken only a handful of words to one another and Jace’s already crashing the party. But really, they asked him to come along. Not the other way around.

  Whatever Simon might think of him, Jace’s got every right to be here because of that fact.

  He checks his reflection with the screen of his phone: bothered but not bothered enough to use the camera, flattening his hair in a attempt to look somewhat presentable. Did ghosts care about one’s appearance? Was there some kind of dress code?

  “Making sure you look good for the demons or?”

  Jace glares from behind his sunglasses; Simon at least gives him a half-assed attempt at a wink, dropping some of the attitude. This is a game for two: Simon won’t know what hit him until Jace’s unleashed his whole arsenal of petty sarcasm.

  Why a microscopic part of Jace’s bothered by it is beyond him.

  “I always look good,” Jace retorts, sliding his phone back into his pocket. “Born with it, you know.”

  Simon rolls his eyes. Clearly he’s not having any of Jace’s lovely persona: that usually means that Jace’s gonna take it to another level just for the hell of it. “Okay, He-Man, if you say so.”

  “Boys, can we be civil for a moment?” Clary steps in between them, hands on their shoulders and a dazzling smile over her lips.”We have loads to do before the investigation tonight, so I suggest we get our asses in gear and get shit done.”

 

*~*

 

“You can start whenever you want, Jace, we’re ready.”

  Clary smiles reassuringly toward the blonde, while Simon stands next to her and looks rather nervous about the whole thing. It’s understandable, since this is the first time Simon’s actually going to be in frame for an entire investigation (up to this point, Clary’s been the one in front of the camera, Clary explained earlier: Simon is as new as Jace is, in one way) and it shows because the dude looks jittery as hell.

  The plan is that Jace will film the pair while they walk down to the pathway slowly, explaining to their audience where they are and why they’re here. Jace’s job is to be as quiet as possible and get some great shots.

  Jace has already filmed some scenery shots for the preview; the area is quite beautiful, so that this place possibly could be haunted is hard for him to fully grasp. Looks could be deceiving: oldest trick in the book.

  The camera’s a familiar weight in his hands: he checks the duo through the monitor, giving them a quick thumbs up. “Everything looks good. Remember, talk with power and try not to be too quick: three, two, one. Rolling.”

  Clary doesn’t miss a beat. “Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of  _Spooktacles_. As always, I’m Clary Fray -”

  “ - and I’m Simon Lewis -”

  “ - and today we’re here at Morris-Jumal Manor in New York City,” she gestures to the big building in the background. “This have been a spot on our bucket lists for so long so we’re very happy that we finally got the permission to film an episode here tonight. Normally, the mansion works as a museum that gives guided tours of this house that George Washington used to live in back in the day.”

  “Think it’s the first place we’ve investigated that used to belong to a president, so that’s different too,” Simon chips in. “We’ll have to step up our patriotic game here so old Georgie won’t be mad at us tonight.”

  Clary laughs and shoves at Simon’s arm; quick as he is, Jace manages to catch the friendly touch on film and it makes him smile. He’s noticing that these two work very well together: in fact, he wonders if there’s not something more that goes on beyond those fond little looks they send each other.

  “Old Georgie is just one of the many ghosts that supposedly haunt the rooms of this museum, but I won’t dress up as a nomad to make any ghosts happy. Our guide Martha will tell us more about the origin of the house and what exactly goes on here after dark. An episode you won’t want to miss, that’s for sure,” the redhead continues; it’s abruptly cut short when Simon slips on the curb, calling out a loud “fuck.”

  “Great, now we need to do that again,” Jace sighs, all while Clary’s bent over laughing, her shoulders shaking with it. “I’m going backwards and I somewhat do better than you, Simon.”

  “Hard to focus on where to put my feet when you’re roaming around like a caveman in front of me,” Simon shots back. He flips Jace the finger, Clary gets the same treatment since she can’t stop laughing.

  “You should’ve seen your face! It was fantastic, best thing I’ve seen all day. 10/10.”

  “You’re just as bad Fray, just as bad.”

 

*~*

 

Simon’s holding the camera now, and when it’s pointed at Jace, the blonde can’t help but feel slightly awkward due to the attention. He’s supposed to introduce himself to the viewers, but how does one do that in a good, casual way?

  Jace’s gone through dozens of possible opening phrases over the last two minutes, yet he still doesn’t come up with a single one that sounds genuine enough to be real. He’s five takes in; luckily for him, neither of his teammates seems bothered by his antics.

  “Just let it come, don’t try so hard to get every word just right,” Clary offers like this isn’t a big deal: she forgets, Jace thinks, that what comes so naturally to her feels alienate to him. “It doesn’t matter if you feel like you screw something up, you’re just telling our viewers who you are.”

  Jace’s close to say that he’s a bit of perfectionist and wants everything done just  _right_ ; instead, he sighs and gives a tentative nod. He figures that if this is going to work, he needs to chill and take things as they come. It’s not like he has any say in what the ghosts would do to them, really: that’s completely off the charts.

  “Okay, fine, let’s try again.”

  Clary smiles. She holds up her hands, counting down from five with her fingers: when she reaches zero, Simon starts the camera.

  At least he’s thankful that Simon’s filming him for this: if Jace would’ve done it himself, the angle would’ve been a lot more unflattering. Sometimes he’s grateful for the looks he has to his advantage. Or, who is he trying to fool, he’s always grateful to use his looks for his advantage.

  “Hey everyone! I’m Jace Lightwood, and on today’s episode of  _Spooktacles_ I’m gonna be joining our lovely hosts on the hunt. I’ll be working behind the camera, but there’s no promises that I’ll be able to shut up so expect some solid commentary throughout the day. If everything goes as planned, I’ll become a regular addition to the crew. Now, time to enjoy some ghostly goodness! Always wanted to be spooked by a dead president, so that something to cross of the bucket list.”

  Clary’s still smiling at him when Simon stops filming; her smiles really are brighter than whatever future Jace has in store for himself. “See, that’ll do great in the video! You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  For some reason, Jace believes her.

 

*~*

 

“So, let’s go through all of the equipment real quick,” Simon holds a small device with colourful areas and tiny lights, a bit bigger than those massive phones that people keep getting,” this is the EMF meter that keeps track on electromagnetic energy: when ghosts are present, it usually spikes and shows on the meter: normal is around 0 - 1,” he picks up another device: this one’s even smaller, still looking a lot like a slim phone with a speaker at the top. “This is the EVP recorder that picks up on sounds and voices: that’s one of the most important things we use while out on our investigations. We’ve caught some creepy shit on tape.”

  “Yeah, one time we went to a old school by the state border, and there we caught this super-creepy voice of some guy, it still gives me chills whenever we listen to it,” Clary chips in, strapping a holster around her waist. She had her own set of records and devices; both of them truly were geared to the teeth, Jace’s kind of impressed by their dedication.

  “Don’t even drag it up, god, it was horrible,” Simon agrees. He picks up another device, this one rather similar to the EVP recorder. “This is the spirit box: it makes lots of noises and is generally pretty loud, but it’s really useful. If we come across weird sounds, I’ll use it and see if there’s anyone present.”

  “We also have this camcorder that we can place wherever we want, but we like to bring it with us. It has night vision and catches movement within both ends of the light spectrum. Also, we have a three infra lights: Simon will use one, I’ll place one on the camcorder and then we’ll have one at the top of the camera you’ll be using, Jace,” Clary shows Jace the lights, and he nods while he takes everything in.

  Hunting for ghosts is a lot more complex than the first thought it would be. He doesn’t even want to know how much money the duo has spent on getting good equipment that actually works, all of this can’t be cheap.

  “Makes it look like you’re two real professionals,” Jace states. The EMF meter comes to life as he presses the button, the display showing a glimmering “0.” He holds it out toward Simon, disappointed when it doesn’t change.

  “And here I thought you were secretly possessed by ghosts,” Jace says with a sigh, slowly moving the EMF recorder up and down in front of Simon, who is looking at him like he’s lost his mind. “This is such a sad day.”

  “I’m not even gonna sink to your level of stupidity, did you really think that I was possessed by a ghost?”

  “You’re immune to my delightful personality, of course there has to be something wrong with you,” Jace can’t help but snicker when Simon buries his face in his hands.

  At least it’s a reaction.

 

*~*

 

The guide - Martha - meets them inside the lobby. To get inside, the visitors needs to ring a doorbell and it didn’t exactly make this place feel any scarier; if anything, it made Jace feel like the three of them were visiting some distant relative or something equally uninteresting.

  Martha’s worked at the house for over ten years: she’s thrilled to be sharing her encounters of the paranormal with them. Clary and Simon handles her with ease. They jump back and forth between questions in a way that shows how well the two of them know each other.

  They’re almost scarily in sync, Jace wonders just for how long the two of them have known each other.

  Jace keeps up as much as he can; filming inside the building works a lot better than filming the intro outside. The lightning is different, not nearly as bright and neither of them have to worry about slipping over stones. No nervous stuttering either, they’re able to get through the first sequence in here in two takes.

  Martha leads the group around the house while telling them about the story of the building. Jace had expected to hear stories about tragedies and indescribable deaths, but the building doesn’t come with any of that. George Washington used it in the war, then there’s been various families owning the building until it turned into a museum.

  One of the theories about the house is that it’s haunted by George Washington: Jace may be open to be proven wrong, but he has a hard time believing that the first president of United States is the ghost haunting this building.

  “Simon, what do you think of George Washington’s ghost? Real or a load of bs?”

  Simon, who’s a step ahead of Jace, glances back at the camera with a light roll of his eyes. “Maybe not the most believable theory we’ve come across, but you’d be surprised of what people can believe when they’ve put their minds to it. I have a hard time believing that the first president of United States in an old house in Manhattan, but that’s just my official opinion.”

  “I’d like to meet Mr W, he can give me a lil scare if he wants to,” Jace smirks; the camera pans out over the corridor, capturing some really nice shots of the interior. He almost misses the bemused look Simon sends his way due to how invested he is in capturing Clary and Martha, who are talking by the end of the corridor.

  “Don’t be too open, otherwise the ghosts will take you up on that offer later,” Simon snorts, carefully avoiding some of the other guests in the house, offering them small smiles as apologises. During the day, the house just happened to be one of the many tourist attractions this city offered.

  “It’s not like I’m gonna stand in the basement all night and be all “come at me demons” now,” Jace says; he zooms in on the dead look in Simon’s eyes when the brunette looks at him and it’s glorious. Spectacular, he caught Simon’s true essence on camera.

  “You haven’t stayed the night yet,” Simon points out. “Believe me, the dark plays tricks with your mind.”

  Thanks to that ominous comment, Jace’s now busy trying not to think about how this building would look like during the night. No, he’s not gonna show just how he bothered he is, not until he’s in a situation where it’s justified: in a lit corridor, surrounded by other people, it’s hardly justified.

  The floorboards creak when people walk on them; same goes for the staircases, especially the one that leads down to the basement, there’s literally nothing appealing with creaking floors. Basements in general are not particularly nice, so a basement in a haunted house should be even worse, right?

  Jace’s not scared. Not in the slightest.

  Staying here over the night? Piece. Of. Cake.

 

*~*

 

They head out for a quick dinner once the interviews are done for the day. Both Simon and Clary are still wearing their holsters and gear, but the man behind the counter in the pizza joint down the street doesn’t even batter an eyelid.

   Just how many have come to this place to search after ghosts? Jace gets the feeling that they’re certainly not the first ones.

   The dinner in general is a nice affair. During the entire meal, there’s not a single quiet moment: Jace’s keen on getting to know the two investigators, and they’re both keen on getting to know him too.

He’s not surprised over the fact that Simon and Clary have known each other since they were kids, because it shows. What takes him by surprise is that Simon has a boyfriend: how they even ended up on that topic is beyond Jace’s understanding, but it turns out that Simon’s the only one in a relationship; Jace’s the one with heartbreak, while Clary’s - in her own words -  _painfully_  single.  Every part of the spectrum covered.

   Why that tiny, tiny part of Jace gets sad over the mention that Simon’s together with someone, is a mystery Jace doesn’t want an answer to.

 When it’s finally time to start the investigation, the anticipation is through the roof. Jace’s earlier predictions of the house being completely different in the dark is right: everything now looks like it’s taken straight out of a horror flick.

  Jace holds onto the camera with whitening knuckles; thankfully for him, he’s not the one in the lead. Clary leads the group with precision through the different corridors and rooms, showing no signs of fear while Simon looks a bit more frightened: at least Jace’s not alone in that.

“Is anyone present?”

Clary has the spirit box in her hands. The sounds it makes is truly something else: Simon wasn’t joking when he said that it had a infuriating sound. If someone would burst into Jace’s apartment at 6AM with that thing on full blast, Jace would probably end up using violence.

  So far, they haven’t come across anything that’s made Jace feel like he might faint. The whole walk around the building’s been eerily quiet for the most part: some creaks here and there, nothing too scary.

  “Is anyone here with us tonight?” Simon repeats, his voice trembling. “We’re not here to fuck shit up, we just wanna talk a little.”

 “That’s one way to put it,” Clary snorts. She heads toward the bedroom, the others trailing behind her: the spirit box continues with the booming sound, but there’s no sign of any ghosts. “Spirits please: if anyone is here with us, show us a sign. Speak to us.”

  Simon’s tinkering with the EVP recorder, and just as he’s about to cross the threshold to the bedroom, comes a sound from the tiny device. “Wait,  _wait_ , guys. I heard something.” Clary’s by his side in a heartbeat, while it takes a little bit longer for Jace to come around.

  As soon as Jace reaches the pair, Simon plays what he caught on his recorder.

 First, there’s loads of static noises. Jace picks up the faint sound of Clary’s voice, when she asked the spirits for a sign, and  _then_  -

  “.. _look_.”

  Jace feels his heart skip a beat. A cold shiver runs down along his spine, he glances around the dark corridor but there’s no one there but them.

  Simon plays the sound again, locking eyes with Clary who looks somewhat thrilled by the entire ordeal. “Please tell me you heard that too.”

  “Did someone actually say look?” Jace can’t believe it: this goes against all of which he believes in. “What should we be looking at?”

 “Who are you? Are you here with us now?” Clary urges on: there’s a glimpse of something hopeful in her voice. “Please respond.”

  A booming sound comes from the floor beneath them: Simon is close to colliding with the wall, Jace feels the camera slipping in his sweaty hands while Clary darts towards the stairs.

  There’s no question about whom would be ghosted first in a horror movie.

  Simon’s glasses reflects with the light that comes from Jace’s camera: the investigator shakes his head and mutters out “she’ll be the death of me” before he follows, Jace running after him with a steadier grip around the camera.

  Clary’s already down at the first floor, her voice bouncing between the walls. “Is anyone in here with us?” She’s standing in the middle of the hallway when the others join her, looking utterly at peace despite everything that’s going on.

  Through the camera Jace’s able to get a picture of the situation. He can’t see anyone in the greenish light the night vision provides him with: if he actually caught a shadowy shape lurking in the corner, there’s no telling in what his reaction would be.

“We should head down into the basement.”

  Both Jace and Simon look at Clary in way that’s implicating she’s lost her mind. Yet, neither of them tries to stop her when she goes to the creaky staircase. No, instead of being rational human beings, they follow her.  

 

*~*

 

Simon manages to step onto a cup that breaks under the weight of his foot. When it comes out of nowhere, in a dark, oddly smelling basement at 3AM in the morning, it’s the scariest thing Jace’s heard in his entire life.

  At least, that’s what he tries to justify his reaction with. He can’t help that it made him collide with the wall, yelping a very high-pitched sound in the process. Fuck Simon for not looking at the floor before stomping around, to be honest.

  For the hundredth time that evening, Jace’s happy he’s not in front of the camera.

 

*~*

 

Jace’s happiness gets crushed when it turns out that Clary filmed his reaction with the camcorder.

  Simon’s, on the other hand, intensifies by a million

*~*

When the night’s finally over, Jace’s flooded with relief.

  He also knows that he’d do anything to do this again.

 

*~*

 

 

Later that morning, when Jace’s back home at his apartment, his phone buzzes.

  He’s on the verge of falling asleep, all of his limbs rolled up into a nest of blankets and it’s a struggle to get a hand free so he can see who he needs to send a very angry note to.

  There’s two new “Friend Request” notifications waiting for him when he checks Facebook. Even before he clicks to see who they are from, he’s pretty sure it’s Clary and Simon.

  Jace tries not to think about how a pleased smile spreads over his face when he sees - as predicted - Clary’s and Simon’s names there.


	2. 2. Florence Welch & One-Night Stands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clary sells her first painting and asks Simon and Jace out to celebrate. In other words, the night when Jace finds out about which way Clary truly swings and when he tries to forget about Maia for good, and also his budding crush on Simon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> God, I haven't updated nor written anything for what, over a month? Let's just say that it's been stressful and emotional at my end, I've been dealing with loads of issues with uni and personal matters, so I really haven't had the energy nor inspiration to actually write anything at all.
> 
> I wrote this instead of working on my essay so old habits die hard I guess, still, it felt really fun to come back to this universe and finish this chapter that's been 75% done for weeks now. :') Since this is a sort of prequel to the Spooktacles story, there won't be any pure Jimon interactions until chapter 5, which will be a sort of extra piece I'll upload once the official story is finished. 
> 
> I've actually begun writing on chapter 2 of Spooktacles and have loads of it planned out, so I'm gonna try to balance my uni work and get it written and uploaded before Christmas hopefully. 
> 
> Anyway, really enjoyed to write some of the new dynamics in this chapter, so I hope you enjoy them too!
> 
> As always, keep in mind that I'm not fluent in English. I'll come back and edit everything asap, but I've tried to correct the most obvious errors I think.
> 
> Enjoy! x

#2

 

College sucks.   
Jace, on some rare occasions, loves it more than anything. 

Today? Not one of those - very rare - days. He’s full to the brim of disappointment and exhaustion as he struggles up the steps to the apartment Simon and Clary share together. He wants to sink down into one of their armchairs and complain about how tricky his assignments are and how infuriating he finds a lot of his classmates. 

When he knocks on the door, he realises pretty quickly that neither of his needs will be fulfilled. The erratic footsteps and loud squealing that comes from inside kind of kills his dreams, Jace can only frown in confusion while he waits for either of his friends to open up. Had he missed something here, why weren’t they as miserable as he was? Did people actually enjoy collage every day?

The door flies open, revealing Simon with the biggest grin lighting up his face. His friend exclaims a loud, ecstatic ”Jace, you won’t believe this!” and drags Jace into the apartment by tugging at his sleeve. He barely leaves Jace enough time to remove his jacket, soon he’s urging Jace on by literally pushing him through the cramped apartment, onward to Clary’s room. Jace tries not to think about the tiny leap his heart does in his chest over Simon’s hands on his back.

Jace loves the mess his friends call home. It’s small, but filled to the brim with stuff. He’s really fond of all the tiny flowers Clary keeps putting everywhere, making the place smell like a flower shop. It’s everything his apartment isn’t: he’s weirdly surprised over how he much he likes it.

Clary’s room is no different than the rest of the apartment. She’s managed to squeeze in both a big bed and a big desk where she stores all of her art supplies. Renting an apartment in New York’sexpensive enough, she can’t afford getting a private studio too. There’s always a smell of something plastic in the air, mixed with the sweet scents that comes from all of her plants.

What Jace likes the most about the room are the paintings she’s put up on the walls. Some of the paintings are very abstract with shapes and colours, catching emotions and not any subject in particular; the others, which are Jace’s favourites by far, are the ones that resembles old movie posters of events in her and Simon’s life (Jace’s favourite is the one where the kid-version of his friends stand outside a old house, arms hooked and with big grins over their faces in true, cartoonish style: really makes him think of the cartoons he used to watch as a kid). She did them for some extra credit last semester, and they’re possibly some of the cutest things Jace has ever seen. He’s in awe of how talented she is.

The first thing Jace notices when he’s pushed through the door is Clary. She’s standing by a large painting, covering it in thick, brown paper; she’s biting her lip, almost like she’s trying to keep the grin off her face.

”Okay, wow, thanks for the push, Si, but I could’ve walked here just fine on my own,” Jace says, shoving gently at Simon’s arm once the brunette heads past him to join Clary by the painting. ”What’s the fuzz about?”

Clary beams, bright enough to blind. ”I’ve sold my first painting! Like, for _real_ money and not just to my parents. An actual stranger!”

”I’m so proud of you,” Simon beams almost just as bright as the painter herself, leaning in to plant a kiss on Clary’s cheek. ”You’re so talented, Fray, it’s about time other people see that too.”

Jace gets the hype now. His past complaints about the day fades away to make room for a glimmering pride over his friend’s accomplishment. ”That’s amazing, Clary! I’m so happy for you.” Since it’s a special occasion, he goes in for a hug and somehow manage to drag Simon into it too. Clary laughs, burying her face against his shoulder while Simon’s squished against them, limbs sticking out awkwardly in places. 

”Thank you, both of you,” she says, pulling back enough to have her gaze flicker between both of them: brown eyes glimmering with warmth and glee. ”I don’t know about you, but this girl feels like going out to celebrate her impending train of success tonight.”

Jace looks at Simon, who’s rolling his eyes with that lopsided grin ever so gleaming on his lips. ”I’m definitely in. What about you, Lewis?”

”Uhm, _hell yes?_ Of course we’re gonna go out and celebrate! It’s not every day my partner in crime sells a painting.”

 

*~*

 

Going out with Clary and Simon means going out with Clary, Simon _and_ Simon’s boyfriend, Raphael. Jace realised this after the second time the three of them decide to go out together and Raphael somewhat magically came along, too.

It’s not that the dude’s not nice, because Raphael is kind and a real charmer, so Jace understands why Simon likes him so much; it’s because of how good Raphael and Simon are together, that’s what rubs Jace in the wrong way. Love as good as theirs shouldn’t be pushed into peoples’ faces, more especially in Jace’s face since, well, _Maia_ still stings and those weird, glimmering bangs of warmth he gets in his chest whenever Simon smiles at him is also a thing. He has some theories as to why he’s not digging their relationship, but they’re all selfish and ridiculous.

Either he’s envying their relationship because he longs to share something like that again with another person, which is the better option out of the two, _or_ he’s… jealous of Raphael. This is.. this is not something Jace even wants to think about, even though there’s two months since he broke things off with Maia. Sure, Simon is a attractive guy, anyone could see that, but was it more than that? It was confusing and tiring to even begin to tug at the tangled mess inside of him.

Still, Jace’s heart leaps up in his throat whenever Simon touches him and when he smiles, Jace feels himself smiling too. He’s _not_ falling for Simon. Not in a million years, but? Even though it pains him to admit it, Jace knows it’s probably what fits most as a explanation to why he’s not clicking with Raphael.

The very top level ofpettiness, Jace’s not proud of it in the slightest. In fact, he’s grown to enjoy to spend time with the paranormal investigators a great deal over the few months they’ve known each other. In this city they’re probably the only two friends he has left, since Maia’s moving in three weeks and things are not quite back to normal between them yet.

Losing a perfectly good friendship due to jealousy? Not on Jace’s watch, his traitorous feelings be damned.

 

*~*  


 

Much to Jace’s luck, Raphael doesn’t show up at the restaurant Clary picked for them to start their celebration at. The night is still young though: Clary has already decided which club they’ll go to once the dinner is finished, and if Jace knows Simon right, the guy have invited his boyfriend over for that. Raphael likes to have fun: Simon and him together when alcohol is involved.. just, Jace didn’t want to be the one cleaning up _that_ mess.

Clary’s picked a small restaurant on the edge of the buzz in Manhattan, cramped between hotels and stores: Jace’s pretty sure they’ve never been here before together, Clary keeps reassuring both him and Simon that the food will blow their tiny minds repeatedly on the way there.

”You have to try one of the pasta dishes, they’re better than free tuition, I swear to God,” Clary hands Jace one of the menus, throwing her head back slightly with a expression that somewhat makes it look like she might be on the verge of drooling. 

”That’s.. no, how can you compare food to free tuition? That’s two completely different worlds, it doesn’t tell me anything about what I need to know about the food,” Simon furrows his eyebrows together, amusement glistering in his eyes as he flickers his gaze between Clary and the menu. ”It’s like I’d say that this piece of bread here tastes like a good night’s sleep, true quality bread right here.”

Jace snorts, he’s about to make a comment of his own when Clary comes to defend her ridiculous use of words.

”If you said that, I’d totally get that it tastes heavenly. Like, the feeling when you don’t have pay any fees for your tuition, think about the angelic choirs singing ”hallelujah” over and over in your head while you’re on your knees, thanking anyone who can hear you, that’s a _pretty_ good feeling if you ask me,” Clary explains in a manner that made it sound like she was talking to a bunch of children that needed to understand obvious information. Jace found it amusing to no end, mainly because of Simon’s bewildered expression. ”The food here tastes exactly like that feeling, you can’t argue with me on that, Lewis, since you haven’t had anything yet.”

”Jace, you can’t possibly agree to this lunacy?” Simon’s looking at him now, and Jace’s sudden aware of every loose strand of hair that trickles his skin. He barely had any time to correct his bun before they left, he must look a bit like he’s been abducted by a tornado. 

”I think, since we’re celebrating Clary’s first sold painting, I’ll go with her elegant description of how my spaghetti will taste like,” Jace smirks when Simon throws his hands up in defeat with a sigh, sharing a delighted look with Clary. ”If I don’t hear a angelic choir singing hallelujah at the first bite, I’ll have to leave complaints to the chef or sue you, Clary, that’s what at stake here.”

”Oh no, Lightwood, you won’t get to sue anyone tonight. You’re gonna be floored, that’s all I’m saying,” Clary declares, confidence radiating off her. She flashes a bright smile at the waitress, and Jace can’t help but wonder if there’s anything that can bring Clary down. 

In the two months he’s known her, he’s hardly seen her anything but determined or happy in some way. She radiates positivity in a manner that Jace’s never come across before: since he can be seen as a bit of a grump himself, he’s glad to have Clary there to light up his gloomy days with her lighthearted (yet savage) personality and a helping hand.

Simon’s a lot alike her in that sense: constantly 0.2 seconds away from a smile. Why they keep going to haunted places and putting themselves through emotional turmoil is beyond Jace’s understanding. Still, as he sits there by the table, observing his friends continued bickering with one another, he’s just happy to be a part of it.

 

*~*

 

Once they’re finished with the dinner, the trio heads to the designated club for the night. It takes no more than ten minutes until Raphael shows up with that dazzling smile of his and a bunch of drinks in his arms, just as Jace predicted he would. Raphael squeezed Jace’s shoulder as a greeting and placed a shot in front of him, so maybe his presence wasn’t always a bummer, but it still didn’t make Jace feel better about the guy being there.

Now, Jace’s sitting by the bar with a tall drink of something shockingly blue in his glass, watchinghow Clary’s talking to a woman with blond hair and a posture that reminded Jace of someone who could crush heads with their thighs. Maia’s love of over-the-top action movies had rubbed on him somewhat, Jace can’t help but feel that the woman could crush Tom Cruise without even blinking.

Raphael and Simon are off somewhere on the dance floor, probably attempting to ”dance” together. Dancing is a very.. _ambitious_ way to describe the flailing they do together, Jace always have to repress his need to give the pair points whenever he catches them in the act. Usually, he wants to give them a big, fat zero.

”Rough night?” the bartender offers. She’s pretty. Light brown hair cascading down over her back and bright, green eyes peering at Jace with mild interest. A tattoo that looks a lot like a vine of some sort goes over her cheek, up along the hairline. 

Jace blinks, taking a swig of his drink. God, it tastes like sour toothpaste, but it doesn’t stop Jace from taking another sip. ”Could be worse. Out celebrating a friend. Ask me again in the morning, I’ll probably say something different then.”

The bartender smirks. ”So that’s why you’re sitting alone here with me? Great bunch of friends you got there, sweetheart.”

”Hey, can’t help I’m not made to bust a move out on the dance floor, a man has his limits,” Jace shoots back, winking at the woman with a playful smile spreading over his lips. He notices how the bartender gives him a once-over: her lingering gaze following the outlines of the dark tattoos on his arms.

”Well, you look like someone who knows _some_ moves, I’ll give you that,” the bartender says sweetly, leaning against the counter. ”Loving the ink, care to tell me what any of it means?” She drags a sharp fingernail along one of the bigger ones on Jace’s bicep, her eyes never leaving his.

Jace can’t say he dislikes the attention. She’s not Maia, far from it, and she’s not… Simon either, whatever _that_ means. She’s different, and maybe different is what he needs to get over them both: Maia for good, and Simon before it gets too serious.

”These are runes, the vikings used them communicate back in the day,” he’s following her movements, enjoying the way her fingers send chills down his spine. ”I study history, specialising in Nordic mythology and traditions. Felt appropriate to have my skin inked with their language.”

”Oh, that’s actually fascinating,” she looks impressed, tilting her head to the side and biting her lip. ”I’m Kaelie.”

”Jace,” Jace says. He quickly glances to the side while taking another sip of his drink, seeing how Simon and Raphael are practically making out in a booth across the floor from where Jace’s at. The sight takes Jace off guard; there’s a sting of something unruly - _dark_ \- in his chest, something he doesn’t want to be there.

He _definitely_ needs to get over Simon before it becomes deep enough to truly hurt. So, with that in mind does he turn to look at Kaelie again, playful smirk reappearing on his lips. ”I’m really digging that vine you have, any chance there’s more to it?”

Kaelie flashes a humours grin, her eyebrow raised in sheer interest. ”Oh honey, you wanna see it?”

Jace would have to be blind not to see the challenge lingering in her sparkling eyes. Tonight? He’s up to take it.

 

*~*

 

”That redhead’s surely chosen a tough nut to take home.”

Jace looks in the direction Kaelie’s turned. Quickly, he notices that the redhead in question is in fact Clary. Confusion settles in Jace’s gut, because what did Kaelie mean by that? Clary’s not.. into girls? Or, has she ever told Jace about what she prefers? He can’t remember them having a heartfelt conversation about their sexualities, he just _assumed_ since she and Simon always were so tangled together all of the time. But, Simon had a boyfriend, so it could just be their nature to be so touchy with one another.

How come a complete stranger in a bar caught up on things that Jace hadn’t spotted in months? Well, it was pathetic to be fair. Was Jace really this clueless about his surroundings? 

”That’s one of my friends,” Jace says, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. ”Are you.. implying that my friend is _hitting_ on that girl?”

Kaelie is the definition of smug when she smirks at Jace. ”Oh honey, I can see the heart-eyes from here. Lydia’s sweet, intimidating but sweet, so your friend got nothing to worry in that department.”

Now when Kaelie’s pointed out something so obvious, Jace can barely look away from where the two women are leaning against the counter on the opposite end of the bar, smiling and talking to one another. 

”I’m fucking blind, aren't I?” it might be the alcohol talking, but Jace feels deceived by his own skills to read people. Wasn’t his glasses supposed to make him be able to _see?_ He was a complete joke, to be fair.  
  
Kaelie, being the hero she is, places a bottle of beer by his arm and pats his hand reassuringly. ”I’m a bartender, it’s my job to figure people out. A low-budget James Bond, if you like, without thedeadly missions and cool tech stuff. I just get to listen to drunk people ramble about shit.”

”Oh, is that so? What can you say about me then?” Jace’s curious, her previous statement perking his interest. He would have to ask Clary about where she's swinging later, when it was appropriate. No need to make things awkward between them, she could have her reasons for not telling him about it and he didn’t want to push her in the slightest.

Kaelie gives him another once-over, this one a lot slower and more elaborate than the first one. There’s something about the way the corners of her mouth quirks up that’s somewhat worrying: Jace knows she’ll hold nothing back, whatever her final judgement might be.

”You have your hair in a bun, hipster-glasses and wear a Madonna t-shirt in a way that you want to be ironic, when in reality you could belt out every lyric to her classics in a heartbeat. You’re a walking cliché, honey, but a mighty fine one if I might have something to say about it.”

Jace comes to the conclusion that Kaelie’s an absolute savage. He _needs_ to ask her for her number.

 

*~*

 

”My roommate’s forgotten his keys,” Raphael declares, letting his phone rest against his shoulder while he glances around at the others. Before he even opens his mouth, Jace just _knows_ what’ll come out through those damn lips of his. ”I need to head home and help him out, could you guys get home on your own?” The ”guys” he’s referring to is Jace making sure that Simon and Clary (both drunk and laughing at a broken, flashing light on the other side of the street) got back to their apartment safely. 

Jace’s not one to back down from helping his friends, but Kaelie’s standing next to him and he had planned a entirely different way to end his night. Still, Raphael’s looking at him with pleading eyes and _fuck it-_

”I’ll help Thing 1 & 2 get home, don’t worry about it, man,” Jace sighs, even managing to smile when Raphael gives him a quick half-hug. ”It’ll be a short detour, nothing to worry about,” he says to Kaelie, who raises her eyebrow at him in a way that says she’s not believing him in the slightest.

”Thanks a lot, I owe you one,” Raphael says. He’s earnest, he _always_ is, and Jace’s not heartless enough to make this into a big deal. ”Babe, I got to go, but I’ll call you tomorrow, yeah?” he adds, arm around Simon who’s looking at him like Raphael’s hung the moon for him.

Jace ignores the way his fingers twitch. He’s _not_ jealous.

”Yeah, sure, love you,” Simon gets out in between giggles, looking like a pleased puppy when Raphael kisses his forehead. All of them are looking after Raphael as he jogs towards the closest subway entrance; Clary cheers him on like he’s competing in a race, and it’s quite frankly the most heart-warming yet stupid thing Jace’s seen all day.

”Okay, drunkards, try to remain on your feet,” Jace pats both Simon’s and Clary’s backs, gently urging them forward. He looks back over his shoulder at Kaelie, trying to look somewhat apologetic about the whole thing. Getting his drunk friends home wasn’t exactly the flirtatious walk back to his apartment he had promised her, but she continued to smirk at him while taking a drag from her cigarette.

”Why aren’t you shitfaced? You had way more than I did,” Clary stumbles over her own feet, just barely catching herself from hitting the ground. The heels of her shoes reminded Jace of the dangerous, spiky things Izzy always wore; the difference between them was that Clary barely used heels, while Izzy more or less was born into a pair. ”Shit, fuck, sorry, I knew it would be a bad idea to have these shoes on.”

”I hold my liquor much better than any of you do, apparently,” Jace offers as a explanation. He decides it’s safest for him to have his hands on their backs to keep them somewhat steady. They really didn’t need a trip to ER too, that would be the worst possible ending to a otherwise good night. ”How’s it going with you then, Si? You think you can handle the walk home?”

”I’m just glad I’m not wearing heels,” Simon says while watching Clary walk in hers, eyes glimmering with awe. ”It looks like balancing on tiny swords, or needles. Isn’t it incredible, Jace? That’s some next level shit, to walk in shoes like that.”

Jace pats Simon’s back. ”It sure is, Si, it sure is.”

 

*~*

 

It doesn’t take long until Simon practically presses his face against Jace’s shoulder. Clary’s gone ahead with Kaelie, the two girls chatting away about something Jace’s only vaguely listening to. He feels his whole body tensing for a second, all while he waits for Simon to realise what he’s done. If he says something, Jace’s sure Simon will pull away: that tiny, fuzzy glimmer in Jace’s chest wants him to remain there, breaths barely touching the bare skin on Jace’s neck.

_Fuck_. Okay, he needed to keep this cool. It’s _nothing._

”I’m offended you don’t smell like sweat,” Simon says, lifting his head just a tiny bit to pout at Jace. ”Didn’t you dance anything at all?”

”I can’t dance, you could have a better tango with one of your ghost pals than me,” Jace snorts. ”Some of us are just born with two left feet, I suppose.”

”Rapha used to take lessons when he was a kid,” Simon mumbles. There’s a smile spread over his lips, one that’s small and not for Jace to see. ”You shouldn’t think so much of how it looks, like I can’t dance for shit but it’s just fun, y’know?”

Jace tries to understand how he ended up here, with his arm thrown across Simon’s back and said man’s head leaning against his shoulder talking about something as irrational as dancing. If someone would’ve told him this morning that this was how his day would end, he wouldn’t have believed them. ”Dude, I’ve noticed that you can’t dance. It’s almost painful to watch you and Raphael have a go at it. I want to go all ”Dancing With The Stars” judge on you two sometimes, but it’s fun to watch. _It’s a no from me.”_

Simon slaps his arm as he pulls away far enough to meet Jace’s eyes. Sometimes when Simon smiles, he gets crinkles by his eyes and Jace would be lying if he didn’t say that it was one of the cutest things he'd ever seen. ”Hey, that’s not even from the show. You can’t go around quoting Simon Cowell, he’s not even American!”

”They all look alike, I don’t keep track on them,” Jace tries his hardest not to burst out laughing, but it’s impossible when Simon’s laughing loud enough to wake the whole neighbourhood next to him. ”Shut it, it’s not that _funny_.”

”Hey, Clary! Clary, Jace’s an idiot,” Simon calls out. The two girls turn to look at them, Kaelie finding it amusing while Clary rolls her eyes.

”Tell me something new, Lewis,” she smirks; Jace pretends to be hurt enough to place his hand over his heart, trying to look offended.

”He thought Simon Cowell -” Simon grows pale in a matter of seconds, the laughter in his eyes dying all the same. The others barely understand what’s going on before he heads towards a nearby trashcan and pukes right into it.

Someone can’t hold their liquor, that’s for sure.

”Oh yikes,” Kaelie comments, winching at the sight of Simon bent over the poor metallic container. ”Are you okay, dude?”

Simon gives a shaky thumbs up, all while continuing to unload utter shit into the trashcan.

”Does any of you got some paper towels or something?” Jace asks. He nods in gratitude as Kaelie hands him some before heading over to where Simon’s puking his guts out. It smells horrible and it’s unsettling all in all, but Jace can’t let Simon go around looking like a mess. He places a comforting hand on Simon’s back, rubbing tiny circles while the guy does what he needs to do.

”I got some stuff to clean you up with when you’re done,” he offers softly. To hear what Simon’s doing is worse than looking at it, Jace looks over at where Kaelie and Clary are standing; trying his hardest to focus on their conversation instead of listening to Simon.

”- know, Florence Welch, if I could I’d let her ravage me in a heartbeat. She’s a ethereal goddess, now when marriage is legal here I can marry her and we’ll get a bunch of cute kids, you know? All redheads, obviously, since we need an army of ethereal gingers-”

Jace may have been blind in the past, but he’s not deaf. He never thought he would find out that Clary’s into girls while Simon’s hurling into a trashcan at 3AM in the morning on a simple Thursday. What even _is_ his life for most of the time? He’s supposed to have a lecture in five hours, but if he knows himself, he’ll probably be buried in his bed by that point.

He’s glad that Maryse and Robert aren’t here to witness his choices in life. They would probably cry, to be honest.

”Florence Welch, huh? She’s beautiful, sure, but man, if we’re gonna talk about hot women we should discuss Winona Ryder or Lucy Liu,” Kaelie says, glancing at Jace with a very direct look in her eyes: _I told you so._

Jace’s not admitting defeat.

”Oh my god, Lucy Liu could step on me and puncture my lung and I’d thank her,” Clary groans. ”Just, Florence, Kaelie, _Florence._ She makes me want to run around naked and find my spiritual calling or some shit, that’s _deep.”_

”I think I’m done,” Simon’s voice is barely audible, something raspy infecting his words. He shakily accepts Jace’s paper towels, wiping around his mouth. ”I knew it was a bad call to take that last shot of vodka, Jesus Christ.”

To be fair, at least drinking with Simon and Clary was never boring. More the opposite, really.

 

*~*

 

”So, what’s up with you and Simon then?”

Jace and Kaelie are walking up the stairs to Jace’s apartment, having dropped off the other two back at their flat half an hour ago. Both Clary and Simon passed out the moment they placed their heads on their pillows, much to Kaelie’s amusement, while Jace couldn’t help but feel a growing fondness over his friends.

They had spent the whole way here talking about various things, Jace telling her a bit about what him and his friends didn’t when they weren’t drunk, and she telling him about her life outside of bartending. She’s a aspiring tattoo artist that works extra at a bar when she can to get the money flowing. Jace's made her promise to tattoo him some time, just because.

This particular question, however, takes Jace completely off guard.

”We’re friends,” Jace states, because truly, that’s all there is to it. Simon has a boyfriend, which he loves. Jace wouldn’t even dream of doing anything that would ruin that, not when he isn’t even sure what he’s feeling himself. ”That’s all there is.”

Kaelie slips in between him and the door, blocking his way to unlock it. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she’s looking at him with one of those infuriating eyebrows raised. _Christ._ ”Honey, you may be blind, but I’m not. I’m a bartender, remember?”

”Yeah yeah, you got weird superpowers that makes you read people like newspapers, but newsflash, _honey,_ he has a boyfriend so that’s not much I can do about it, can I?” There’s a weird, calming sensation in his chest once the words are out. He didn’t admit it with the precise words, but it’s still the first time he’s saying any of this out loud, to a somewhat stranger at that. 

Up to this point, he hadn’t realised that whatever he felt for Simon, the attraction or what it was, that it showed on him. It was still so new, or maybe Kaelie just had superpowers that could detect every little thing in a human being. At least she’s a better version of Sherlock Holmes, the real one is a nightmare.

”So,” Kaelie says, dragging her bottom lip between her teeth.

”So,” Jace echoes. ”Could you move out of the way? We can take this inside instead of waking my neighbours out here.”

Kaelie slips to the side, letting Jace unlock the door and open it. ”Want me to help forget about him for the night, then? Or did you have something else in mind?”

Jace smirks as he pulls off his shoes and jacket. ”A distraction is just what I need, if you're up for it. Zero strings attached.”

Kaelie rolls her eyes, but she still steps inside and shuts the door behind her. ”I can work with that.”

 

*~*

 

”Who’s that?”

Jace turns. He notices directly which picture Kaelie’s referring too: the one taped hazily in the middle, between photos of him with his family and the ones of him, Clary and Simon.

He swallows. ”That’s Maia. She’s also someone I need to forget.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually really enjoyed to write Kaelie's & Jace's interactions?? It's real fun to explore some uncharted territory, so I hope it felt okay. And also, you can pry hipster-Jace from my cold, dead hands more or less because he's living™ in this universe, let me tell you all that!!
> 
> Anyway, please leave a kudo/comment if you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will be a bit more angsty and deal with something I've wanted to write for a reeeeal long time, so enjoy the happiness while it lasts. :)
> 
> Follow me on tumblr, gustavtomasbruce, if you want to talk to me about my fics (currently very much into Stranger Things) I try to get back to people as soon as I can. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, I'll see you all in the next update. xx


	3. London Calling

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One night when Jace's winding down after spending time with Clary and Simon, he finds someone he didn't expect to ever see again standing at his doorstep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Another short glimpse into the missing year! This one features one of my favourite dynamics from the show, so I was happy to finally be able to try to bring them to life a little.
> 
> The 2nd chapter for the main story is about 50% done, but my inspiration and devotion to SH is literally taking it's dying breaths at the moment, so I'm trying my best to make something worthwhile off it with what little fire I have left, tbf.
> 
> Anyway, errors are all mine. I'm gonna come back and correct this as soon as possible, I don't have the energy to do it at this moment. So please bear with me!!
> 
> Do enjoy! x

** #3. **

 

The sound coming from the TV is loud enough to almost block out the shrill ring of the doorbell. Jace’s not sure he hears it correctly at first, but then it comes again, and yeah, there’s _definitely_ someone at the door. He sighs as he gets up from the comfortable nest of blankets he’s surrounded himself with; a shivers travels down his spine, the apartment is _cold_ and he’ll have to have a word about bad timing with the disturbance that keeps ringing his doorbell. Pulling a hoodie over his head, Jace pauses the film and heads towards the door.

Can’t a man watch _Gladiator_ alone in peace around here anymore?

It’s a little over 11PM. He’s only been home for an hour; he wonders who possibly could be coming here this late on a _Wednesday_.Doesn’t people have work in the morning? It’s not Kaelie, since she’s at work (he’s been texting her all night, so that at least he knows), and since he just came from hanging out with Simon and Clary, he doubts it’s either of them.

Unless - _not_ her. Jace may not have a lot of options to choose from, but he knows for sure it’s not _her._

The bell rings again. ”I’m coming!” Jace calls out as a response. Whoever’s on the other side seems impatient. He tugs the hoodie closer to his body, feeling a jolt of something close to certainty when he unlocks the door and presses the handle down. It can’t be her, but he knows it’s _her._

She’s a sight, just like she always have been. Her hair’s bigger, but not by much, and those deep, brown eyes looks straight through him in a way that no one else does. When was the last time he saw her? Was it the day she told him that they couldn’t be together anymore, all those months ago? She was leaving to study in London, and therefor leaving _him_ in the process. 

Maia clears her throat. The smile never reaches her eyes, but it’s a nice attempt to make things look normal when they so clearly aren’t. ”Hi.”

Jace should say something. He really should, but there’s nothing that comes to mind. Even a simple word like ”hi” seems too hard to make out properly.

His lack of response seems to dishearten Maia slightly. She’s shifting her weight from one leg to another, hands in her pockets. ”You’re probably wondering what I’m doing here, after, ah, well, everything.”

Jace gets enough control of himself to get his mouth working. What eventually comes out is a small, breaking ”do you want to come in?” even though he knows he shouldn’t. Just having her here again brought back memories and feelings he thought he’d worked past over the last few months. They’re still there; just, not at a strong as before.

Maia nods. She follows him inside. It feels so much like it used to, when they came home late at night after being out with their classmates, burritos in a bag and smiles on their faces.

No one’s smiling now. No food in sight, either.

The apartment is different when Maia’s in it: whole, in a sense. She did live her for more than a year, it almost feels like it belongs to her as much as it does to Jace. Just to see her, at the edge of the bed like nothing had happened over the past few months made something inside of Jace break.

He’s over her, but at the same time he _isn’t._

”Why did you come here?” Jace didn’t mean for it to sound final; so distant, like this is a matter of life and death. Has he always been a drama queen, New York simply brought it more often than he would’ve wanted it to.

Maia doesn’t meet his gaze, instead she looks down at the floor. ”I wanted to say goodbye.”

_Oh._

Jace leans against the bookshelf, eyes falling close at the contact of the wood against his hair. He should’ve known. _London._ The one thing that broke them apart in the first place; the fucking capital of the goddamn United Kingdom.

”When are you leaving?”

Maia still isn’t looking at him. ”Tomorrow. My plane leaves at 5.30pm.”

”Fuck,” the word slips off Jace’s tongue naturally; he feels it with every fiber of his being.

”Yeah, _fuck_ ,” Maia echoes. Jace opens his eyes just to catch how her hands are fiddling in her lap, fingers clenching and unclenching. ”It didn’t mean things to be like this, Jace. I wanted us to be friends, I just -”

”It’s been _months,_ Maia,” Jace drags his fingers through his hair, slowly massaging his scalp while he tries to deflect a headache. ”I gave you time - I, I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me anymore; you didn’t call, not even a text about how things were. I wanted things to be different too, why did you stay away?”

She’s standing now, a familiar, fiery glimmer in her eyes - that Jace fell in love with years ago - present once again. ”I know, Jace. I know you don’t think I had reasons for what I did, but I had to do it. You and I both know we wouldn’t have survived my trip abroad.”

There’s no less than a few feet between them. If she touches him now, Jace’s not sure he would be able to keep it together. This is what’s been haunting him ever since they broke things off: how Maia made a decision about their relationship, how she didn’t even let them _try_ to work things out. ”How can you know that when you shut down every chance we had of trying? I loved you, Maia, and you cut me off like I was something the cat dragged in.”

”I’m sorry,” the apology falls flat, even though there’s genuine sincerity in her voice. Did she ever love him as much as he loved her? Neither of them had been good at expressing what they felt with words: they were the physical type, actions before words. ”I never meant it for us to turn out this way.”

”I know,” Jace says without letting his voice break. He clenches his jaw in a way he hopes looks deflecting. ”I just didn’t think I’d be seeing you again. Not after how it ended.” 

Maia smiled, a minor twist to her lips. It still didn’t reach her eyes. ”Honestly, I didn’t think so either. Not until last week, I know it’s shit of me to bring it up after all this time, but I loved you too. Even if we can’t be together, I want us tro try to save our friendship. Fuck, Jace, you were my best friend; I miss _you.”_

It’s almost six months since they broke up. Six months since the last time they talked. He would be lying if he said he didn’t miss her. 

Jace’s nodding despite he’s not even close to thinking through what this means yet. ”Okay.”

For the first time that night, Maia’s smile reaches her eyes. ”Okay.” She looks to the TV and smiles when she notices what film’s playing. ”Why am I not surprised? You don’t mind some company for the rest, do you?”

Jace rolls his eyes and throws himself onto the bed. By the time he’s pressing play, Maia’s on the bed too.

 

*~*

 

After a couple of minutes of awkwardness, they come back into some sort of routine. Maia drops her occasional comments, just like she used to do before, and it feels so familiar and _right_ that it makes Jace smile. He’s seen the movie more times than he honestly remembers; Maia’s commentary gives it new life in a way, and that’s one of those things he likes so much about her. She can make anything feel exciting: there’s never a dull moment when he’s around her.

Once the movie’s finished, they’re hardly aware of the end credits rolling on the screen. Maia’s talking about her plans for London: how she’s going to live with three other girls in an apartment, studying during the days and experiencing everything London has to offer during the years she’s going to stay there.  
Jace in return tells her about what he’s been up to. Everything about _Spooktacles,_ and how much he enjoys spending time with Clary and Simon. Talking about Simon with Maia feels strange at first, since Simon’s the one that’s seeping into the hole Maia left in him, but by the end of it feels normal to discuss these new aspects of his life with someone he trusts.  
The part about him feeling things for Simon that’s strictly not platonic though, that he keeps to himself for now.

”You know, you should come and visit one day,” Maia says. Her voice is lower, but manage to still sound bright. ”I think you’d fit right in with the brits, to be fair.”

Jace’s are lips tugging upwards the tiniest bit. It’s not a bad idea, he’s always wanted to go to London since, well, it’s _London._ ”Aren’t I obnoxiously American enough for your standards, Roberts?”

The laugh Maia makes is breathless and light. ”You’ll always be the Golden Boy of USA, Lightwood, for better or for worse. Yet, you do have a certain bit of cynicism I’ve heard brits have. As for a fact, no one can look as pissed as you do without your coffee before an early morning lecture.”

”My personality doesn’t work until noon, before that I’m absolutely useless and you know that,” Jace’s laugh matches Maia’s. He tries not to think about that in a matter of hours, she’ll be gone. Fucking _London._ ”Isn’t England exclusively tea, though? I bet their version of Starbucks is just different versions of tea but with some extra spices and cream on top.”

”Ew, have you ever _had_ tea? What you’re describing is a nightmare.”

Jace huffs out a laugh; rolling his eyes fondly, he sits up and pushes at Maia’s leg. ”Maybe I should stay here in the land of grease and big burgers. You’ll have to rave up the UK by yourself, Roberts: make me proud.”

Maia looks up at him, smile playing over her lips. ”I’m gonna miss you, Jace. London’s gonna be a bland place without you.”

”I’m gonna miss you too,” Jace lays down beside her again; staring up at the ceiling to avoid looking at her face. ”Two years is nothing in the bigger scheme of things. Get out while you still can, it’s going to be a circus around here now when Trump’s elected.”

The fingers jabbing into Jace’s side causes him to yelp in surprise. He catches a glimpse of Maia’s displeased frown while tries to squirm away from her on the bed.

”Don’t talk about that rotten pumpkin, can we just have this night in peace, please? A better subject is your new profession as a ghost hunter, that’s still the best thing I’ve heard all year.”

Maia sounds somewhat bewildered yet impressed at the same time when she mentions the ghost stuff; somehow she’ll have to accept that Jace’s life involves a lot more involvement with the paranormal compared to the last time they saw each other.

At least she isn’t laughing anymore, like she did when Jace first told her about his new line of work. She had thought he was telling her a bad joke, because how could someone as skeptic of everything as Jace possibly sign up for something as ridiculous as that?

Jace couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t the typical 9 to 5 job, exactly.

”I’m beginning to think that you want to see one of our videos.”

”Well, maybe I am. What you gonna do about that, Lightwood?”

 

*~*

 

It’s almost three in the morning when Maia decides it’s time for her to head home. She still has some things to pack for the trip, and Jace got to get up early too to finish the editing on the latest _Spooktacles_ video.

That’s at least the excuse he tries to tell himself. Asking Maia to stay the night is overwhelming; it’s already late enough, she could easily take the bed while Jace sleeps on the air mattress on the floor.

The question’s at the very tip of his tongue, but it fades away while Maia puts her jacket and scarf back on. He doesn’t want to do anything; she’s leaving for two years (if not more), he just wants to be near her for as long as he can.

”This.. it’s been lovely to see you again,” Maia leans against the wall, swirling the tip of her scarf between her hands. ”I’m sorry I waited to do this until quite literally the last minute, but I don’t regret coming here.”

Jace’s not sure of what to say, so he does what he does best: act. In less than a matter of seconds, he’s wrapped his arms around Maia and pulled her in towards his chest. 

At first Maia’s surprised by his sudden show of emotions, but it doesn’t take long until she slides her arms around his sides; hands resting comfortably on his back.

”I’m glad you came too,” Jace whispers against Maia’s hair. ”Now I’ll finally have a reason to use my Skype again. London’s what, 6 hours ahead of New York at tops?”

”Something like that,” Maia says, burying her head against Jace’s shoulder. ”I promise to call as soon as I got everything sorted, okay? Even if it’s in the middle of the night for me, cross my heart.”

”I’ll be waiting.”

 

*~*

 

First thing Jace does when get to Simon’s and Clary’s place the following morning is to tell them about what happened with Maia. Both of his friends look like fishes gulping for air - an expression that’ll turn into a modern classic in Jace’s books - and they exclaim how happy they are for him to resolve things with her. He spends most of the day telling his friends about Maia and what their relationship used to be like; it’s the first time he’s opened up about her to either of them, and he’s relieved to find that it doesn’t hurt anymore when he talks about her.

Whatever Jace had with Maia before, was now history and replaced with what hopefully would turn into a long, lasting friendship.

Jace wishes so that Maia could’ve met them both, but it’ll have to wait until a later date. He’s sure they would get along just fine; hell, if he and Maia could work things out, despite their rather different personas, anything can work out.

He doesn’t receive a call from Maia until late the following day. Mere chance is what’s kept him awake, apparently going through side after side of weird family stories on Reddit goes as entertainment now days; when the Skype ringtone prowls over the gentle piano music Jace’s playing in the background, he almost falls off the bed in pure fear.

Muttering, Jace opens the chat window and makes himself comfortable before he answers.

”Hi, Maia!” he smiles once Maia appears on his screen: a blurry, yet tired looking Maia that matches his smile with one of her own. ”Took you long enough. I want to hear everything about your flight, stat”

”Oh Jace, you don’t know what you’re asking for here. Alas, someone needs to hear me rant about it so might as well be you. Are you aware that some people snore loud enough to wake the dead? For more than two hours straight? Me too, as of now. Pain. That’s the only thing I got to say about. Loads and loads of pain.”

Jace can’t help but laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a kudo/comment if you liked it!!
> 
> See you all in the next update. xx


	4. Heartbreak

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace and Clary are trying to revise for their upcoming midterm exams, when Simon comes home and is anything but his happy, witty self.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> Another chapter on this piece, I know I just posted one yesterday so double the treat this weekend!!
> 
> At this point, I just want this story to be finished, so I hope to have the remaining scene and the awaited chapter 2 of the main story done some time next week. Still, it'll be done by the end of the year, that much I can say.
> 
> Anyway, all mistakes are mine. I'll go through and correct errors more with time, so please bear with me.

** #4. **

 

Midterm exams should be illegal. In fact, all exams should be illegal due to the massive amount of stress that goes with them: Jace’s certainly not immune to it, even though he wishes that was the case. Dates, famous warriors, Gods - everything have to stick, otherwise he’d be so fucked. _So fucked._

He’s slouching in Simon’s armchair, going through cards with questions and mumbling the answers to himself. In some weird way, studying over at his friends’ apartment is better than to sit at home and do it alone and in peace; Jace’s not as easily distracted as Simon is, but to be here, with his friends at least keeps him from constantly wondering what they’d be up to without him.

”I hate this,” Clary says. She slams her textbooks down on the coffee table, dragging an exaggerated hand through her hair. ”I swear to God, I’m gonna lose all of my hair due to stress before this is over.”

Jace snorts. ”Honestly, you’d look like a completely different person with a buzzcut. Clary Fray 2.0.” He’s right there with her, though. What hair might be falling off his head grows right back out again, but on his chin instead; Jace usually makes habit of shaving often, with the exams coming up he’s messed up his schedule and looks gruffer than usual.

”I’d like to meet her,” Clary grumbles. ”Maybe she can ace these exams without having to give up every other aspect of her life at the same time.” There’s something odd in her tone; not as much of a joke as it should be, but some underlaying, actual truth.

Before Jace asks her what she’s had to give up to focus on her studies, when Clary seemingly decides to tell him either way. ”I’ve thought about asking this girl in my group on a date. Like, proper ”dinner first then art gallery” kind of date.”

”Oh,” Jace supplies since he’s in control of his own mouth. He clears his throat, small frown creasing his brow. ”Can’t you ask her out either way? It’s not like you have to stay in 24/7 to study; if we can put some time aside to film a video for Friday’s upload, you can put some aside to go out and have fun.”

Clary chews on her lip; she swirls a lock of her around her finger, before realising it along with a soft sigh. ”Yeah, maybe. Can’t shake the feeling that I have the wrong priorities.”

”Seriously, Fray, you deserve to do something for you every now and then. Look at Simon, he manages perfectly well to balance his studies, _Spooktacles_ and having a functioning, good relationship on the side.”

Simon had been spending more and more nights over at Raphael’s apartment lately, leaving Jace and Clary to hang out a lot just the two of them. Jace doesn’t mind it: he enjoys Clary’s company a lot, she’s easier to reach than Simon in a lot of ways, but whenever they’re alone, he can’t help but feel a sting of what could be a minor jealousy in his chest from simply thinking about where Simon is and what he might be doing.

Jace wonders when he began to wish that he could Raphael’s place. Because, it annoys him to no end that he’s lingering on details that should be infuriating: how crinkles appear by Simon’s eyes when he laughs, the way Simon always fall asleep - barely keeping himself in the armchair - when they watch movies together or how Simon never manages to find socks that actually match.

At least with Maia, Jace could keep it under tight restrictions, but Simon’s a kind of guy that’s up in your face and likes to hug, so Jace gets a whole new level of torture from this. Fuck his feelings, seriously.

”Yeah, can’t believe I’m saying this, but you do have a point,” Clary says. She slips her phone out of her pocket without hesitation, and before Jace’s even aware of what’s happening, she puts it down on the coffee table as she says: ”Done and done.”

Jace’s taken aback. Clary’s much more powerful than he first though: if he was in her shoes, he would have chickened out and waited a week before finally daring to send a text. To be able to send it like the text didn’t give her any emotional turmoil whatsoever, that’s _true_ power. ”Did you… ask her out? Just like that?”

”Yeah,” Clary shrugs her shoulders, placing her textbooks back on her lap again. ”Better to have it out of the way than to go back and forth and second guess if it was a good call or not.”

”Wow,” Jave says, impressed. ”She must be quite something, what’s she like? Anyone I’ve heard of before?”

Clary snorts, but there’s a fondness in her eyes when she speaks. ”Her name’s Maureen, and she’s actually an old friend of Simon who just happened to be in the same class as me. She’s funny, sweet and when she goes off talking about her art? It’s mind-blowing, I can listen to her talk about her ideas for hours.”

At the mention of Simon’s name, Jace’s heart skips the tiniest of beats. He ignores it altogether to focus on what Clary’s telling him: smiling at how excited she seems to be over this whole ordeal. God knows that girl needs something fun and sweet in her life from spending all of her time with two idiots whose second nature is to argue with one another.

”I didn’t know Simon had any other friends than us and Raphael,” Jace says. ”That’s blowing _my_ mind.”

Clary gives him a look, and brushes his comment to the side. ”Yeah, well, for the longest time I thought she was into Simon. They would spend so much time together, since they used to play in the same band. But, as it turns out, she’s actually into me. Has been for quite some time. Baffling, right?”

”Who’d want be with Simon? It’s not like he’s available,” Jace says, hypocrite as he is, and as the words leaves his mouth, he’s very aware that the truth might shine through. He had his suspicions about if Clary had noticed his crush on Simon or not, but now he was sure she knew because the devilish grin spreading over his lips indicates that she _knows._ Oh does she know.

”That’s rich coming from you, isn’t it?” Clary batters her eyelashes, trying to come off as innocent and sweet, but it doesn’t work when she’s grinning like a coyote all the same. ”So you wouldn’t want to be with him, if the opportunity presented itself?”

Jace’s mouth falls open, he shuts it only for it to fall back open again not more than a second later. He put himself in this situation, now he have to get out of it: hopefully with some of his dignity still intact. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Smooth.

”So you’re denying the fact that you’re having a crush on Simon? Like, major ass crush? Subtle, Lightwood, very subtle,” Clary rolls her eyes, flickering her gaze between her book and Jace’s pretty ”put on the spot” expression.

”As I said, I have _no_ idea what you’re talking about,” Jace looks down at his own notes; at least norse Gods have never done anything to put him on the spot like this. He should get some new friends, why did Maia have to go to London? Scratch that, if Maia knew, she would be absolutely relentless about him having a crush. ”You’re just spitting out lies.”

”Keep telling yourself that big guy if that’s what makes you sleep at night.”

Jace figures coming here to study had been a bad choice after all.

 

*~*

 

The bang coming from the front door takes both Clary and Jace by surprise. Jace manage to hold onto his books in his minor jump, but Clary isn’t as lucky: her books fall out of her lap and down to the ground in thuds, all while she’s looking Jace’s way with confusion infesting every feature.

”What the -” Jace starts.

Simon comes in through the doorway. He doesn’t spare his friends as much as a glance, his whole body trembling as he rushes into the space behind the bookcases he uses as a bedroom. The curtain is forcefully drawn shut behind him, enough to make the fabric rattle on it’s hinges.

Neither Clary or Jace say anything at first. They’re looking at each other, wordlessly communicating if they should ask Simon what’s wrong with him or give him some space. When it becomes clear that Simon’s sniffling on the other side, they try to shut it out by jumping into a pointless conversation about the painters of the Romantic Era.

Jace’s heart breaks in his chest whenever he overhears how Simon’s forcing back sniffles. What could Simon possibly be so upset about? Did something happen with Raphael? 

Simon appears a few minutes later, eyes puffy and bloodshot. The sight of him causes Clary to rise to her feet, a soft ”oh Si” leaving her lips, but Simon holds out a hand to make her stop.

”I’d like to cry, so could you two, maybe - fuck, could you not study in here? _Please?_ ”

This version of Simon is so far from how he’s normally like it’s hard for Jace to believe that he’s the same person. Gone is the dazzling smile and the crinkle by his eyes, what’s left is a Simon that looks _broken._

Jace wants to hug him for a chance, but he knows Simon’ll push him away. ”Of course,” he says instead, scraping his books and notes together in a messy pile. ”We can study in your room, Clary, it’s fine dude, really.” He shoots Clary a look, practically begging with his eyes for her not to push at Simon now: they could ask him about what happened later, when Simon’s calmed down.

As if Jace had to doubt in Clary’s intentions; she’s a whole other level of observing, already with her books against her chest and a sad look in her eyes. ”We’ll be in the other room, don’t hesitate to call on us if you wanna talk, okay?”

Simon nods solemnly, not meeting their worried glances when they disappear into Clary’s room. Jace just barely manages to catch a glimpse of Simon’s grim face before Clary shuts the door, leaving them standing there looking at one another with maxing frowns of discomfort.

A broken sob comes from the living room, and Clary’s quick to block it out by putting on some music. Not that Julien Baker’s emotional, gut-wrenching music is any better, but at least it’s more merciful than having to listen to your friend breaking down in the other room.

”That was.. fuck,” Jace sits down on the bed, placing his books on the floor. ”Something must’ve happened with Raphael, why else would he be so upset?”

Clary slumps down in the chair by her desk. ”Let’s not jump to any conclusions. I think something must have happened while he was there too, but we shouldn’t spin any ridiculous scenarios when we don’t know the truth.”

Jace knows she’s right. They would have to wait until Simon wanted to talk to them; he wanted space, that was what they would give him. How on Earth Jace possibly would be able to focus on revising while he knew in what state Simon’s in, a whole different problem altogether. ”What do you think we should do, then?”

”Give him some space, and when he’s calmed down, we’ll show that we’re there for him, no matter what,” Clary turns so she can rest her elbows on her desk, head in her hands. ”I hate to see him like this.”

Jace falls back, staring up at the ceiling with all of the plastic stars scattered around, glimmering down on his. ”I hate it too. So much.”

*~*

 

Hours pass. 

Simon gives no indication that he would want to talk to either of them, so they stay in Clary’s room and pretend like everything’s fine. Jace has no idea how many times he’s gone through Clary’s photo albums, but it feels like it’s the tenth time he comes across a picture of two much younger versions of Clary and Simon, sitting on a blanket in a park and laughing up at the camera.

The picture rips his heart out without much effort.

As time passes, Jace can’t ignore that he’s human and therefor have humane needs. Not even the cute yet gut-wrenching pictures of his friends youth can keep those away, despite how hard Jace tries to push all of it away.

”Do you think it’s safe to head out? If I don’t pee soon it’ll turn into a disaster,” Jace complains, eyeing the door in hopes that a solution would magically appear out of thin air. The crying had stopped a little while ago, he shouldn’t walk into a complete abyss at least.

”Yeah, I think it’s fine. Do what you gotta do,” Clary says, not even looking up from what she’s sketching on. Jace has a hunch it’s a picture of Simon. ”Don’t disturb him.”

”I’m not a kid, thank you very much,” Jace grumbles, but as soon as he steps out of the room, he feels like one about to sneak out while their parents’ are asleep. He moves quietly through the living room; tipping on his toes, yet there’s no sound coming from Simon’s half of the room.

Jace escapes into the bathroom, his heart hammering rapidly in his chest. 

He made this far without causing a scene, he thinks while drying his hands off on a towel moments later. Now he needs to get back to Clary’s room in one piece. It shouldn’t be such a tormenting task, but Jace wouldn’t forgive himself if he brought Simon any discomfort now when the dude’s clearly having a tough time.

Jace barely gets out through the door before he hears a weak ”Jace?” coming from the off limits part of the living room. He swallows. Feelings truly have never been his strong suit. ”Yeah?”

”Could you come here?”

Getting to the curtain feels lik Jace’s moving in slow-motion. He glares at his hand when it trembles as he pulls the curtain back, quickly shifting his expression into something he hopes comes off a bit more relaxed and kind when he looks at Simon.

Or, the roll of blankets that most likely contains Simon, that is. A mop of dark, messy hair is visible by the top, but it takes Jace a good few seconds to notice Simon’s face in the mess of blankets.

He looks worse from when rushed in hours ago; eyes puffier, dried tears on his cheeks and a grim line to his mouth that’s so out of place it makes Jace himself want to cry.

Jace doesn’t cry, instead he sits down by the edge of Simon’s bed, carefully avoiding to sit on any hidden parts of Simon’s body. ”How are you doing?”

Simon scoffs. A bleak, forced sound. ”Well I’ve had better days.”

Jace chuckles shortly at that. ”Not surprising,” he says, biting his lip. He’s not sure if he should press on and ask Simon about what’s happened. Considering that Simon asked for him to come over here instead of letting Jace slip back into Clary’s room, the coast should be clear. Simon could always just brush it off if he doesn’t want to explain.

”What happened, Si?”

Simon’s eyes slide shut, a painfully slow breath leaving his lips. ”I.. _fuck_ , Raphael broke up with me.” 

Jace shouldn’t be surprised, Clary and him had expected that this was the case, but hearing it out loud from Simon himself causes Jace to freeze. He goes through the last few times he’d seen Simon and Raphael together in his mind, coming up empty-handed with reasons as to why Raphael all of a sudden would want to break things off.

”What?” he says, confusion in his eyes as he looks over at Simon, who still has his eyes closed.

”He broke up with me,” Simon repeats, every word slow and barely audible. ”He broke up with me, going all ”it’s not you, it’s me” because of fucking course. It just _sucks,_ man.”

Jace snorts bitterly. ”Dude, you’re talking to the right guy then. Break-ups are the worst thing, but I promise that with time, things get easier to handle. It doesn’t hurt as much either.” 

”Easy for you to say, Maia came back into your life and you’re friends now,” Simon says with more heat than before. ”I’m not even sure if Raphael still wants us to try and be friends or not, he didn’t exactly give me much of an explanation.”

”Both of you need time, dude, you don’t know what’ll happen once the heat of it fades away,” Jace shoots back. ”You need time to deal with this, so does he.”

”Stop trying to paint him in a good light, I don’t want to like him right now-”

”I’m really not, Si, I’m just saying how it is. It took months for me to get over Maia, and it took months for her to find what she needed so we could become friends again. I’m not saying that you’ll be his friend one day, but it’ll take time until you’re fully okay.”

Simon disentangles himself from the blankets, slowly becoming a human again as he sits up. He’s wearing a hoodie that probably belongs to Raphael, because Jace can’t ever remember Simon being a basketboll fan; he looks so vulnerable, and Jace once again has to push down the impulse to reach out and pull him close. 

”You don’t think I should fight for him?” the question is truly curious, mixed with caution.

Jace blinks. Not what he expected in the slightest. ”Ehm, man, do you want to fight for him? Because if you do, then knock yourself out. I’m with you whatever you decide to do as long as it’s legal.”

Simon snorts at that, and it almost sounds normal. A step in the right direction. ”I’m not sure what I want right now to be honest. I love him, sure, but if he doesn’t want to be with me, I got to respect that.”

”You’re sometimes so wise for being so dumb,” Jace says, earning himself a soft kick to the thigh. He deserves it.

”And you’re always an ass,” Simon shoots back. ”Seriously, I should’ve asked Clary for advice instead. At least she’s nice to me.”

”That’s only because you have her swirled around your finger,” Jace says. He doesn’t get to continue that thought, since Clary appears by the entrance, carrying a bag with something that smells heavenly in her hands.”Did someone order takeout?” 

Jace’s mouth waters from the smell alone; his heart swells slightly in his chest when Simon manage to smile and in return makes Clary smile, all wide and fondly.

Jace can let the interruption slide for now. He has time to argue with Simon later, even more so than before now that he’s single. The tiny, tiny part in Jace that’s happy over this turn of events gets to sit in the corner; he’s not going to be _that_ guy.

Not when Simon needs him as a friend.

”Got your favourites, because that’s how good of a friend I am.” Clary sits down beside Simon, squeezing his knee gently before handing out the containers of food to the pair.  
”I love you,” Simon sighs while he takes the containers Clary’s handing him. ”I don’t care if my bed gets all greasy, totally worth it.”

”There’s some Ben & Jerry’s left in the fridge for later,” Clary continues. ”You love me more now?”

”You’re probably my favourite person in the world,” Simon says, stating the facts. He glances at Jace almost shyly; Jace just waves it off, he doesn’t get offended that easily. ”Jace, you in 3rd place, can’t neglect my mom or Becca.”

”3rd place isn’t that bad. I’m ahead of Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fischer, so that says something,” Jace says, his voice muffled from the noodles he’s chewing on.

”If I had met either of them, they’d be number 1,” Simon states, causing both of his friends to laugh. ”Just stating the facts here.”

   Clary smiles. She pats Simon’s leg again while leaning back against the bookcase. ”Si, I love you too, even though you'd push me off the piedestal for those icons." She takes a bite of her food before continuing. "Sorry, but I heard you two were talking, I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

   Jace shakes his head. "Nah, we were just joking around."

   Clary looks pleased with that. "Si, as I said, I love you, and I fucking hate when you're upset. What happened? Did something happen with Raphael, or is it something else? I just want to help."

Simon’s expression doesn’t falter; it turns softer while his eyes are glimmering and wet, like they’ve been the entire time he’s been back at the apartment. He goes through what he’s already told Jace, and he does it in a way that Jace knows he’ll be okay again.

They all will, as long as they got each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave a comment/kudo if you enjoyed it!
> 
> See you all in the next update. xx


	5. Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace, Clary and Simon goes to LA to celebrate Halloween. Their matching costumes makes Jace question every decision he’s ever made in his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> So this is the end of Spooktacles!! It's been a long time coming, and I'm so glad to finally have finished the last chapter and the last scene and be done with this story, even though it's been lovely to nuzzle down in this AU. :')
> 
> I hope you all have enjoyed this as much as I've done, and that the last scene isn't a let down.
> 
> All mistakes are mine, I'm not English and I've tried to correct the most obvious grammatical errors. Will come back and edit more with time.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy! xx

**#5**

 

”So this isn’t pushing it to the limit?”

The look Clary shoots Jace in the mirror is anything but flattering. She fixes the straps to her equipment, all while that obnoxious symbol on her chest is _there;_ looking as ridiculous as ever. Oh they would get _hell_ for this, Alec wouldn’t be merciful in the slightest.

When it came down to it, this whole ordeal is _Simon’s_ idea because of course it’s Simon’s idea. Most of the time Jace wonders what he sees in the guy, the rest of the time he wonders how he would ever be able to go on without Simon’s constant presence in his life. It’s a battle fought at two fronts, to say the least.

”It was bound to happen, I’m surprised how we’ve managed to put it off as long as we have,” Clary says, pulling her hair back into a ponytail. ”We promised Simon last year that he could decide on the costumes, remember? You _knew_ this was coming -”

”Yeah, but really? _Ghostbusters?_ How seriously do we take ourselves on a scale of 1 to 10? Because right now it feels like a fat zero,” Jace feels incredibly stupid in the beige overalls with that same, stupid ghost patch on his chest. He had never been a fan of _Ghostbusters,_ not in the way Simon apparently had been (”you’re a _disgrace_ to all paranormal investigators out there, Lightwood, _Ghostbusters_ is our legacy”). The remake was pretty funny, funnier than the old ones, and Jace was sure he could make a good reenactment of Chris Hemsworth’s character, but no, _no,_ that wasn’t allowed: the three of them all had to dress up in these ridiculous suits with equipment to match.

Alec’s going to have a fucking field day with this.

”You know, Alec’s gonna murder us the moment we step down the stairs,” Jace continues, wondering what on Earth is taking Simon so long in the bathroom. The party is already in full-swing downstairs, and Jace really doesn’t want them to make an remarkable entrance.

”He’s gonna be ruthless with _you,_ since you’re his brother. Simon and I are lucky in that sense, since he actually likes us, believe it or not,” Clary puts the mascara down, flashing off a particularly pleased grin that causes Jace to huff and turn away in pure dismay. ”Simon! Are you done? We’re already late and we’re staying _in_ the house, it’s ridiculous.”

Simon comes out, hair slicked back and with a nervous twist to his lips. How he manages to look adorable dressed as a damn Ghostbuster is infuriating and enjoyable at the same time; Jace, quite frankly, loves him for it.

”It’s not too much, is it?” Simon's flickering between Clary and Jace, looking for some sort of confirmation on their faces. ”We’re not making fools out of ourselves with this, right?”

”You look great, babe,” Jace leans in to press a soft kiss against Simon’s temple, all while Clary rolls her eyes at the two of them, affectionate, like always. ”At least you look good in these damn overalls, I look like an idiot.”

”A _hot_ idiot,” Simon corrects him, sliding an arm around Jace’s waist. 

”But an idiot nonetheless,” Clary finishes sweetly. ”Boys, I’ve heard rumours that Izzy’s dressing up as a devil and as fun as it is to stand around here and chat, this girl would like to have a long, good look at that before the night’s over.” She holds up the door for them, her smile growing that extra inch bigger when Simon chuckles.

”The party can’t possibly start without you, Fray,” Jace muses, smiling against Simon’s hair before he places another kiss against Simon’s forehead. Not that he’s looking forward to see Alec’s delighted face as soon as they get downstairs, but at least there would be alcohol and snacks.

That’s enough to keep anyone happy for a couple of hours.

 

*~*

 

Alec’s the first one to see them coming. Or, at least Jace _thinks_ it’s Alec, since he knows no one else who’s well over 6ft and built in such  a way, even with a sheet thrown over his tall frame.

”Oh my god, Mags, you gotta come see this, I was right!” Alec clasps his hands together triumphantly, all while watching the trio through the cut-out holes over his eyes. ”Who’s idea was it? _Genius,_ absolutely brilliant.”

Simon does a little wave, declaring his guilt. ”It’s mine, I’ve wanted to do this for years,” he eyes Alec’s costume with a growing grin plastering over his face. ”Damn, I’m over the moon that you’re dressed up as a ghost, can’t we take picture where it looks like I’m catching you with this? Please?”

Jace lingers in the background, watching as Clary staggers off to search after Izzy and how Magnus comes in from the living room, camera in hand and dressed much like a fancier version of Gandalf (if Gandalf would’ve been into red velvet, that was). He’s comfortable in just seeing his friends blend in so well with his family; Simon smiling from ear to ear as he posses with that ridiculous vacuum machine thing in front of Alec, who’s trying to look scared with the sheet still very much in place: all while Magnus' laughing hard enough to have tears streaming down his cheeks.

”Before this night is over, we need to film a skit where you, Jace and Clary catches Alec to the _Ghostbusters_ theme. That’s all I’m asking for,” Magnus says to Simon, loud enough for Jace to hear it as well. It takes no more than a second for Simon to turn around and look at Jace all expectantly, eyes wide and pleading: a look Jace literally couldn’t say no to, because it’s like he would say no to a puppy and that was against every law of nature.

”Fuck it, I’m in,” Jace throws his hands up, signalling his defeat. ”But if that’s happening, I need something to drink. _Loads_ of it.”

 

*~*

 

Alec and Magnus keeps Simon and Jace to their promise. It didn’t take them long to make Clary agree that it was a glorious idea, and now when Jace’s pleasantly buzzing from the alcohol, the couple strikes.

Jace finds himself next to Simon, who’s buzzing in a completely different way than Jace, having to squint due to how bright the room is. There’s plenty of phones out for this occasion, and none seems to take Jace’s threat of suing their asses if anyone posts the video online seriously. He loses all of his belief in humanity due to this group of people.

”Okay, everyone, be quiet!” Alec says, loud enough to somewhat catch the attention from the guests. One particular guest, dressed as a knight in dashing, plastic armour can’t stop giggling, but other than that it works. ”Now, the opportunity of a life time has presented itself here with us tonight. On this iconic Halloween night, we’re going to witness real life paranormal investigators dance to the _Ghostbusters_ song on _Just Dance_ while wearing these uniforms. I’m gonna help by doing the role as the ghost. Please, have your cameras at the ready.”

Alec stands next to Jace and he’s smiling wider than Jace’s ever seen him smile in his life; having a older brother sucks, Jace concludes, _especially_ when that particular brother is enjoying Jace’s pain as much as Alec is.

”Everyone ready?” Simon’s the lead; he’s practically vibrating with excitement as he goes through the different menus on the game. ”Pick your characters and we’re ready to go.”

The dance, as it turns out, is just as ridiculous as Jace thought it’d be. What he didn’t expect, is just how much fun it is at the same time. He feels like a clown when he has to swing his phone over his head to imitate the dancers on the screen with their ghost hunting equipment; jumping from side to side and not fall right into Alec in the process; just witnessing from time to time how much Alec struggles to get the dance right with the sheet thrown over his head, Jace’s having a damn field day and he doesn’t want it to stop.

Clary and Simon give their all - as they always do - and score perfect after perfect score, like they knew the dance by heart (knowing them, they probably did). The difference from the previous night’s investigation at one of Los Angeles most haunted houses is staggering; Jace’s having a good time, even though it pains him to admit it - even to himself - and he’s not sure he’d pick searching after ghosts over this. Despite that they all must look like complete and utter morons.

Jace gets into it more and more as the dance progresses; he’s sweaty and laughing, trying his hardest not to spin into Simon, who’s throwing bashing smiles Jace’s way whenever there’s a moment to spare.

By the time the dance’s over, Jace’s the one asking if they could do it again.

 

*~*

 

The biggest difference between Los Angeles and New York is that LA hardly feels cold. New York can be freezing, but Los Angeles never get cold enough that you can feel it in your bones; the way New York does.

Jace’s standing out on porch ofthe house Alec, Izzy and Magnus share together, cooling off from the intense dancing. The buzz of the party’s still present in the constant beat of music coming through the walls; still, it’s as peaceful as Los Angeles can be. 

When Simon comes out to join him, Jace’s busy with staring at the blinking lights of the city. He hears the sound of the sliding door; feet stepping over the deck; the familiar warmth when Simon’s hand touch his shoulder, the gentle intake of his breath.

Jace’s not sure if it’s the stillness of the night, or the way his breathing gets stuck in his throat when he meets Simon’s glimmering eyes; the sheer intensity of Simon’s unforgiving, pure happiness; whatever the reason is, Jace melts.

Melts. Melts. Melts.

”I love you,” he says, the alcohol buzzing in his veins and truths slipping off his tongue. ”I love you, Simon.”

Telling Simon this particular truth feels right; telling Simon this particular truth right here, on a porch in Los Angeles after one of the best days of Jace’s entire life, even more so.

Simon’s eyes doesn’t widen. Instead, a huge, face-splitting grin stretches out his lips and make him look irresistible in a way only Simon can. ”I know,” he says. ”I love you too.”

Jace leans in to kiss him. He’s not sure if he’ll ever be able to stop.

 

*~*

 

The costumes are a easier than they look to get rid off.

Jace’s tugging at Simon’s belt between kisses, laughing and smiling at how ridiculous this whole situation is. His own costume is pooling around his legs; almost free, but not quite enough just yet.

Simon helps him, and soon they’re both free from those gnarly pieces of fabric. Their lips keep finding their way back; sloppy kisses on warm, wet skin.

Jace murmurs ”I love you” over and over again; planting his lips on various places of Simon’s body, feeling how Simon’s whimpering and pleading beneath him. He’ll never grow tired of saying those words; _I love you, I love you, I love you._

If Jace would’ve known that getting his heart broken would lead him here, he would’ve broken it a lot sooner. 

The best friends in the world; a job he loves; _Simon._

Jace never wants it to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something short and sweet to end this journey tbh! :)
> 
> Thanks a lot for reading and showing both of these pieces some love, means the world really!!
> 
> Please leave a kudo or comment if you enjoyed it, makes me so happy to read your thoughts!!
> 
> Hopefully I'll see you all in a fic soon again. xx


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